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\u201cIt didn\u2019t seem like work,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hawkins spent roughly 21 years managing grounds, landscapes, and forestry at the University of the South in Sewanee. After that, he finally returned home to Tullahoma and was hired at TUA, where he has been ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy path has not been linear. The experiences have been broad \u2014 plant propagation, wholesale nursery production, retail garden center work, landscape design-build, sports turf management, and urban forestry. The common thread is, and always has been, trees,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most of the staff at TUA are engineers, but Hawkins represents the organization\u2019s first and only utility arborist. His responsibility is to assess trees in relation to power lines on a tree-by-tree basis, rather than applying one standard protocol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m still dealing with trees,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I\u2019m dealing with close proximity to power lines. How do we balance preserving a healthy tree next to a power line? That\u2019s the uniqueness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trees are essential for any community, and TUA\u2019s goal is to preserve as many as possible while keeping homes and businesses powered. By adding an arborist to the team, TUA can assess situations from an electrician\u2019s perspective while remaining intentional about caring for the city\u2019s tree canopy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to working for TUA, Hawkins serves as TUA\u2019s liaison to the Tree Board, an advisory board in Tullahoma that works to ensure the city remains a \u201cTree City USA.\u201d In this role, he helps bridge communication between the two, resolving any conflicts that arise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI can impart knowledge of what we are trying to accomplish at TUA,and some of the challenges we are up against. It creates a dialogue that wasn\u2019t always there,\u201d Hawkins said. Hawkins cares most about the trees that tell Tullahoma\u2019s story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt one point, you could drive down Jackson Street from East Carroll Street to Oakwood Cemetery, and most of the street was treelined with willow oaks,\u201d he said. As older homes made way for businesses requiring parking lots, the trees aged out and were never replaced. Hawkins estimates 70% of Old Tullahoma\u2019s canopy is made up of ash trees, but the emerald ash borer \u2014 an invasive pest \u2014 is spreading through them. Many ash trees along Anderson Street are already marked for removal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn a couple of years, they\u2019ll be gone,\u201d he said. \u201cThe historical character and the permanence of that landscape will just be gone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hawkins said that while the trees beautify the area, they also protect utility lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen you\u2019ve created open areas where there\u2019s nothing around the power lines, all that wind becomes a direct blow,\u201d Hawkins said. \u201cIf it\u2019s cold and windy enough, you\u2019re going to get icing on those lines that you might not have gotten if the tree line was there, breaking it up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are a few historically old trees still thriving in town. Just behind The Painted House, an art studio owned by Annie Rone, stands the largest willow oak in Tennessee, known locally as the Annie Oak Tree. The tree even has its own webpage on the Tullahoma Parks and Recreation website (tullahomatn. gov). The city holds no legal easement on it, but the designation has been warmly embraced by Rone, who takes good care of this legacy tree on property that once belonged to her grandmother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Tree Board helps preserve and grow Tullahoma\u2019s canopy. The East Park Arboretum at East Middle School received state certification in 2016, and TUA gives away 100 free trees annually each November through its Energy Saving Tree program \u2014 the only one in Tennessee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cVery few things that any of us can do have the potential to outlive us. Planting a tree is a beginning,\u201d Hawkins said. GN<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The eerie wail of Tullahoma\u2019s tornado siren bellowed on Aug. 1, 2012. Storms beat down on houses, structures stood braced against high winds, and power lines began to fall. Monty Hawkins clocked in for his very first shift with the Tullahoma Utility Authority (TUA) on this very night. The next day was intense. \u201cThat was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":25592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","content-type":"","footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[5,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","category-tullahoma"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/tullahoma\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/10\/1-1-1024x683.jpg\")
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